Tiverton area residents, officials speak out against Sakonnet bridge tolls

Hundreds of Newport County and nearby Massachusetts residents turned out for the second night of public hearings on the Rhode Island Department of Transportation’s proposal to toll the Sakonnet River Bridge.

Hundreds of Newport County and nearby Massachusetts residents turned out for the second night of public hearings on the Rhode Island Department of Transportation’s proposal to toll the Sakonnet River Bridge.

Just like the previous night at Portsmouth High School, most of those who spoke Tuesday night made impassioned pleas against tolls.

In fact, by 9:15 p.m., a little more than two hours after the hearings in the Tiverton High School auditorium began, only one man, Richard Desrosiers from Lincoln, R.I., had spoken in favor of the tolls. Desrosiers said Aquidneck Island residents should pay the toll because they are fortunate to live on an island.

He was roundly booed by the audience.

“My Mom has totally gray hair. We survived a banking crisis and economic recessions,” said Sarah Zlydaszek, who co-owns the Portsmouth Shop on 2511 E. Main Road in Portsmouth, R.I., with her 63-year-old mother, who still works seven days a week.

However, Zlydaszek does not believe her business could withstand a toll.

“One-third of our business comes from Tiverton, Little Compton and southern Massachusetts. This will prevent the state from getting $24,000 in sales tax.

“Imagine the loss of tax revenue. You will be making money in one way, but losing it in another,” Zlydaszek continued, adding that the store opened while she was in kindergarten.

RIDOT director Michael Lewis gave an abbreviated version of his presentation Monday night, highlighting that the authority to toll the bridge was granted by Article 20 of Rhode Island’s fiscal 2013 budget. The article also authorized the transfer of the Sakonnet River Bridge and the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge to the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority.

Revenue collected through the state’s gas tax has declined by 11 percent over the last five years. The state must also pay back bonds it previously issued to make bridge and highway repairs.

The state does have other options to raise revenue for bridge maintenance, Lewis said. For instance, raising the gas tax and raising license and car registration fees.

“None of this is easy, and none of this is popular,” Lewis said. “That’s again why we’re here.”

Lewis said the actual toll rate would be established by the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority’s board of directors. It would be “sufficient to cover operations and maintenance, capital plan projects and debt service.”

The rate currently proposed is based on existing Pell Bridge rate — $4 each way. An E-Z Pass costs Rhode Island residents 83 cents each way. For out-of-state residents, it’s 91 cents. The commercial rate has yet to be determined.

Nearly 70 percent of traffic on the bridge is local traffic.

Residents and elected state and town representatives did not agree with the state’s assessment.

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“I vehemently oppose the tolls. I firmly believe the most important issue in 34 years as an elected official,” said state Sen. Walter Felag Jr., the first to speak in the public comment portion of the evening.

“The Legislature did not have all facts before them. Legislators should have had information before them to make informed decision,” Felag said, explaining what happened when the state’s budget passed.

“This commuter bridge should bring people together,” Felag said. “It becomes a barrier. Says stay away. We’re telling the people of Little Compton and Tiverton to stay on your side of the bridge.”

Former Tiverton town council candidate Nancy Driggs asked whether the hearings actually mattered. “Is this whole evening an exercise in futility? Is that going to make a difference? Or is it to show that you talked to us?”

“I can’t predict,” Lewis responded, adding that the Federal Highway Administration does “want to react to what local concerns are. There have been projects delayed by Federal review process.”

Tiverton Town Council President Edward Roderick said the tolls would be an “additional cost-of-living expense.”

ceremony the same night of Tiverton’s toll hearings. “We have spoken to you and have conveyed to the governor. But with our governor it falls on deaf years. The governor does not want to hear us.”

Businesses on both sides of the bridge would be affected. Senior citizens and veterans would be affected, said other residents.

It also appears that the toll rate would be disproportionate in size and per usage.

“The Pell bridge makes the Sakonnet River Bridge look like an off-ramp at best,” said Tiverton town councilor Bill Gerlach. “Shouldn’t the recommended toll be one-fifth?”

“The optimist in me hopes that (the state) will finally open its eyes to truth. The realist knows that, at best, political theater at its finest is allowing another check box to be checked off,” Gerlach said.

“I don’t even want to use that four-letter word,” said newly elected state Rep. Dennis Canario. “Any toll, of any type is not an option. Should any bill come before it, tolls tied, I am not going to support it. I know the state went through many months of engineering and discussion. All this work before it actually started.

“This is a regional problem,” said David Dennis, a Fall River city councilor, who said the tolls would impact his city as well as Aquidneck Island. “We want these individuals to come to our city. We’re looking to expand our tourism in Fall River. Losing site of bigger picture, which is what you’ll end up losing.”

“I think I can fairly say, as an elected official, that the 90,000 people in Fall River oppose this.”

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Tolls appear to be a foregone conclusion, said Fall River resident Michael Moore, adding that he would have to pay a toll to see his children who live only “six miles away.”

Domenic Bitto, who co-owns Evelyn’s Drive-in in Tiverton with his wife, said even though they run a successful business, they can’t “lose five percent in business. I can’t imagine the impact on smaller businesses.”